and in this unparalleled Crisis in the Nation's history, when notice of a vote of want of confidence in the Government has been officially given by the Opposition, there would seem to be all the elements of a great discussion.

We appeal to hon. Members opposite that at this Crisis of the Nation's destiny we ought to support the Government, which the wisest of our politicians have judged to be a safeguard for the protection of the country at this juncture.

May the Government be encouraged and inspired in this grave Crisis in Our Nation's history, if we want to win this war, to 931 do something more than they have done with this great national evil, which even the "Brewers' Gazette" says is nothing but luxury and waste.

Those who want Lord Hardinge to resign or want him to leave his present place, want him at this Crisis in This Nation's history to give up all efforts towards carrying on the great struggle in which we are engaged.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol and my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Southampton (General Sir I. Philipps) have quite properly, I think, raised this very vexed question on this occasion, and I think the House must think, as I think, that there is nothing in their minds other than this, that they are supremely anxious in this great Crisis in the Nation's history that our men should have the satisfaction of knowing that they have, and of having, the very best available gun that this country can produce.

I should have thought the Secretary for War, without talking with his military advisers upon this question, would have considered, if there was any ground of compassion upon which such a soldier could be got out of the Army, that ground would be the case of a widowed mother, whose only son came forward at the Crisis of the Nation's history prepared to sacrifice all for the honour of his country.

If in 1917 or 1918 the present Chancellor, when passing through the greatest Crisis of the Nation's history, when the call was made for men and when trade unionists and trade union leaders were asked to rouse the country, had come along and said, "As a result of your sacrifice and your effort, in 1507 seven or eight years' time the accumulated fund which you have created while fighting for your country is going to be taken by the Government," I wonder what the answer would have been.

Let it not be said by future generations that this House, faced by a grave Crisis in Our Nation, has failed in its trust and duty to the best and highest interest of the State.

I feel very strongly that at a moment like this, in the Crisis of Our Nation, we should put forward our ideas, as I know the Government would wish that even humble Members like myself should do, because it is quite possible that there may be something useful in them.

While we are in this Debate undoubtedly directing our attention to agriculture in Scotland at this Crisis in Our Nation's life it is not possible to shut one's eyes altogether to what is happening south of the Border.

I understand that the arrangements for today were made through something which is called the "usual channels," a mysterious road with which most of us are unacquainted, and that the programme is to be such that, in the present Crisis of the Nation, the whole of this day is to be devoted to a Debate on the subject of family allowances.

The right hon. Gentleman has said that I have made a major proposal, but I am bound to remind him that this is a major Crisis in the Nation's affairs.

What is to be the result of the Bill at this time, when there is a Crisis in the Nation's affairs, when we are trying to get responsibility in income, and to get coal miners and engine drivers and signalmen to moderate their demands for increased pay because it is creating an inflationary bubble?

However, it comes ill from any of the hon. Members opposite today, at a time of Crisis in the Nation, to strike the attitude they are striking now.

So be it, but let the country recognise the quality of government we have at this Crisis in Our Nation's affairs.

The practicable question arises whether the pensions of older Members of the House, who may be at the point of retirement, should be prejudiced because of what appears to be a temporary Crisis in the Nation's finances.

Is it not all too clear that policies and attitudes, as last week's report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Overseas Trade affirmed, needto change and change radically if we are to avoid a major social and economic Crisis in Our Nation's affairs"?

it is a Crisis of the Nation's social conscience.

I beg to move,That this House is profoundly alarmed at the Crisis in the Nation's schools and the collapse in teacher morale, the serious problems of retention and recruitment, the deteriorating state of school buildings, and the under-funding of the system; condemns Her Majesty's Government for its lack of ambition and leadership for the nation's young, for pushing through changes which are adding to the crisis, for the fact that one-third of children are getting a raw deal, and that fewer young people stay on in full-time education than in any major competitor country; and calls for action now to raise the standards of education and to invest properly in the nation's future.

Britain now has the fastest rising unemployment in Europe, a Crisis in the Nation's skills and a recession that is claiming new victims every day.

A Conservative party, faced with the profound problems of recession - rising unemployment, a Crisis in the Nation's skills and training - has as its sole response, stripped of its pretentions, simply an old-fashioned rant about tradeunions.

In view of the reports in today's newspapers about the Crisis in the Nation's blood supply, the financial crisis within the National Blood Authority, and the news of the sacking of that authority's chief executive - which I heard this morning and which was not conveyed, to me at least, by ministerial letter - have you had a request from a Minister to make a statement to the House about that serious matter affecting the nation's blood supply and its management?

Would he also remind himself that, in days of Crisis in This Nation, the one who held his office advised the monarch from time to time to call a national day of prayer?

This is the sentence that left the deepest dent in my memory: "A principal theme of the Committee's report is that of the national attitude towards trade and manufacturing and their principal recommendation is that it needs to change-and change radically-if we are to avoid a major social and economic Crisis in Our Nation's affairs in the foreseeable future".

It is a Crisis in Our Nation that we have to question who really governs us.